I watched her balance at the thin edge between pleasure and pain. I noticed the precise instant when the vibrating fullness in her * and ass pushed away her panic at the sight of the cane.
I watched Ellie face her fears and I saw her triumph over them and it was the most amazing sight in the world.
Chapter 22
Alexander:
At eighteen, I am young and idealistic. I leave France for Algeria. I’m determined to make a difference. I’m determined to spend my days countering the effects of Dylan McAllister. I’ve sworn off relationships. A girlfriend or a wife will only weigh me down and distract me from the road ahead.
In the hot desert, I am recruited as a mercenary in one of Algeria’s incessant wars. There’s always skirmishes that need to be won and a man who is willing to fight is valued. First in Algeria, then in Morocco and then in the disputed lands of the Western Sahara, the boy that left the comforts of Provence becomes a man.
At first, I’m na?ve enough to think that I’m fighting for good, but after a few years, the truth is gradually revealed. Concepts like right and wrong, good and evil, these aren’t as black and white as they might appear from the comfort of distance. I’ve seen soldiers fighting for freedom, pillage and rape to celebrate their victories. In the Maghreb, I realize the truth that should have been clear to me right from the start. Money matters. Nothing else.
After a few years, I am sickened enough to return. At twenty-two, I finally pursue my undergraduate degree. In my spare time, I study the stock market, looking for patterns and signs and portents. In four years, I make my first million.
I learn another important truth. The first million is the hardest.
When I’m twenty-seven, I finally pretend to reconcile with Dylan. I need to be closer to him if I am to undo the damage he’s caused. I need facts and information, knowledge that only he can reveal.
Dylan is, of course, thrilled. As he ages, the idea of his own mortality looms in his mind and suddenly, I am more significant. I am someone to be nurtured in a way that I never was when I was a child. I matter now.
I am cynical enough to realize that Dylan’s pile of money is diminishing rapidly. Kidnapping girls is expensive. Moving countries every four to five years is even more so. Add in the costs of the mercenaries, the secure compound, the guns and the many servants that he cannot survive without, and Dylan finds his fortune isn’t quite as vast as he thinks it is. He needs me for my financial skills as well.
I pretend to help, yet where I can put a wrench in things, I do. I don’t act openly, not yet. First, I need the names of all the girls and I need to find them, even if it takes every euro of my fortune. Money is unimportant compared with my need to help these women.
At the end, when all the women have been found, I promise myself I’ll take care of Dylan. Destroy him so thoroughly that he’ll never be able to do this to another innocent young girl again.
I want to be able to say that I will be able to kill him, but I know I’m lying to myself. That child that clutched at a teddy bear in an airport in Kingston hasn’t receded entirely.
At the end of the day, there is too much longing in me for a family. I can’t bring myself to shoot my own father.
***
Ellie / Jenny:
We were in Hanoi. The road was finally coming to an end. We were in a car, speeding towards the fortified compound where Dylan had taken refuge. The deepest desire of my heart – the death of Dylan McAllister – was minutes away.
I had wanted to do more in preparation, but I couldn’t. I’d spent most of the previous week recovering from Sylvia’s beating and in any case, what could I do? I didn’t know if either Alexander or I would be searched for weapons, so I couldn’t risk bringing one. I hadn’t even been sure if Alexander would take me to Dylan’s compound, so I’d tried to think of options if that happened. Perhaps pretending that Alexander had forgotten something? I would be trusted to a degree because I was travelling with him.
But for six years since Abeokuta, I’d trained for this moment that I was hurtling toward. I’d spent countless hours in dimly lit MMA gyms, in the boxing ring, on the shooting range. I’d killed four men, the guards who had raped me at Dylan’s behest. The only guard who was yet alive was Daniel Schneider. For six years, everything else had been put on the back-burner as I gave in to my burning desire for revenge.
Alexander had taken such good care of me after Sylvia had left. He’d held me in his arms and stayed till I fell asleep. The next morning, he’d brought me breakfast in bed. Two nights after, he’d taken possession of me in the playroom.